Subscribe To

Friday, 11 August 2017

Focus on UK activist Lauri Love

As part of the #AntispyBill event last Sunday, organised by the NZ Internet Party UK activist, Lauri Love told his story.

I had known very little about him and his case so am posting this.

Lauri had a discussion with Kim Dotcom.

Here is some background on his case

https://freelauri.com/Lauri
Love is
a computer scientist from Stradishall in the UK who has a long
history of political activism. He played a prominent role in the
student and Occupy movements in Glasgow during 2011-12.

Lauri
is facing potential extradition to the United States for his alleged
involvement in #OpLastResort, the series of online protests that
followed the persecution and untimely death of Aaron Swartz.
Effectively, he is being pursued by the US criminal justice system
for allegedly protesting abuses of that same system, with prosecutors
in three US court districts accusing Lauri of hacking into various
government websites.

Love
was first arrested on 28 October 2013 for alleged offences under the
UK’s Computer Misuse Act. The National Crime Agency (NCA) seized
Lauri’s computers and tried to force him to turn over his
encryption keys, but Lauri refused to cooperate and was ultimately
released on bail. Nine months later, Lauri’s police bail was
allowed to expire and the UK investigation against him appeared to be
closed, although the NCA refused to return six devices that they
could not decrypt.

Then
on 15 July 2015, Love was arrested again
by UK officials, this time at the behest of the US government, who
had issued several indictments and corresponding extradition
warrants. The FBI and Department of Justice allege that Love has been
involved in hacking into various governmental agencies, including the
US Army, NASA, the Federal Reserve and the Environmental Protection
Agency.

Lauri
Love’s extradition hearing
was held on 28 and 29 June
2016, with final arguments held
on 28 July. He is also fighting the NCA for the return of his
property, in a case which helps shed light on what happened during
the initial British investigation.

On
16 September 2016, Judge Nina Tempia ruled
in favor of
extradition, passing the case to Secretary of State Amber Rudd, who
approved the order. Lauri’s legal team are now taking their appeal
to the High Court.

Lauri
is increasingly being recognised as an expert on
hacking, surveillance and privacy issues in the UK and has made a
principled stand against the country’s forced decryption laws.
Lauri Love deserves our solidarity and needs all of our support to
oppose his extradition and end his persecution